The Excalibur project
by MaddnessWriter
Summary: A.I's are one the advantages that the UNSC had over the enemy but the problem is the A.I's never had a true body to fight with. The Office of Naval Intelligence is now going to test a theory, are A.I's good enough to fight the enemy with a body? First Fic
1. Chapter 1

Halo fic

Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Halo, and any characters, locations or terms taken from it are owned by Bungie, Microsoft Corporation, The Authors of the books and their respective corporations. Any OC's created and the plotline for this story is owned by MaddnessWriter**

**0600 Hours, October 30, 2543 (Military Calendar)/ Pelican Inbound to No Regret**

Click, clack, echoed through the hold of the pelican of the interior structure as the dark red humid light lit the dark robust compartment which groaned as the pelican drifted to its destination across the soundless space. The pelican compartment held six passengers all of which were male with their kit bags swaying in the racks above their head.

Five of them were ODSTs (Orbital Drop Shock Troopers) in their usual matte black armour, with helmets making it hard to distinguish each other if anybody saw them. They were slowly losing what was left of their patience and sanity from the insisting clicking from the sixth passengers laptop.

The clicking stopped, causing a sigh of relief to pass through the ODST squad. They had to remain with the high personnel that they had been assigned to, and they had spent the last 2 hours listening to the man's insane talk on how their life expectancy has dropped throughout the war with happy perky face or listen to the laptop continuous click clacking on board since the pelican was launched from the prowler.

"Thank God, I couldn't bear another minute of that f**kin..." one of the ODST with a Australian accent said on the helmet com, but interrupted by the restart of the clicking, causing a groan over the com.

"You just had to jinx it, you just had to f**cking jinx it, didn't you!" shouted a ODST in a southern American accent, looking accusingly at the first ODST, who shrivelled at the combined stare of the squad.

The leader of the squad banged his helmet on the metallic wall of the pelican then looked at the squad member next to him who was slowly edging his hands to the M6S Magnum strapped to his thigh. He was abruptly stopped by the leader, who gave him a light shake of the head.

"For f**ck sake!" The ODST next to him shouted on private com "I really wish we didn't take the short straw at that meeting. I rather be strapped in SOEIV in my underwear to a destination full of the Covernant Elites and Hunters than here!" Before rocking his head in his hands and mumbling about insane Doctors that has to be high personnel that can't be shot at.

The leader signed and wondered where the hell on Earth his Hell Jumpers calm and sane demeanour had gone after only two hours on this trip. His thought were interrupted by one of his squad with a blue line across his left shoulder armour walked up to the professor and stood there for a moment trying to see if the sixth passenger would notice him before giving up by the sounds of continuous typing.

"Doctor Swaksly," said the ODST with a deep French ascent, who looked like he was ready to fall to his knees and beg if necessary "Could you please stop using the flipping laptop for a moment, please?"

The Sixth passenger looked briefly up in astonishment before it turned into a childlike amusement.

Doctor Arthur Swaksly was a male in his late forties, who face was worn away from years of war. His hair is thinning and slowly turning grey, from its original colour of black as a bald patch is slowly forming on the back of his head. He slowly stands up showing his height to be 5.9 ft tall with his blue eyes shining with curiosity, child like excitement and insanity. Though behind these eyes there is a constant pain he pretends that doesn't exist. Doctor Swaksly was once a brilliant scientist that helped in the team to create the Modern Smart A.I's and a few other bits and pieces that the UNSC military use today.

His sanity was lost when he found out the Covernant had glassed his home planet, killing his family that were living there. Though some consider him too insane to do the job, Swasksly continue with his work in order to avenge his family that were lost in the war.

The insane scientist peered at the visor of the of the Hell Jumper with untamed curiosity and slowly walked towards him causing the Hell Jumper to nervously edge back before Swaksly nodded in excitement while mumbling about improvements to the ODST's helmet, returning to his seat and closing the laptop resting it on his lap. The Hell Jumper stood shocked for a moment before returning to his seat mumbling on the com about insane doctors.

"God, that guy is more insane than any Hell Jumper around." grumbled the southern marine on the com. The leader shook his head and chuckled before receiving a message from the pilot and shouted "Alright shut your mouths! We are docking with the No Return in one minute so get yourselves into gear to depart!" This caused the Hell Jumpers to jump up with renewed energy and start to move their gear from the rack hoping to get off this mental ship and away from Swaksly as quickly as possible. Doctor Swaksly watched in child like amusement before taking down his kit bag from the racks and stood next to the ramp waiting for it open and let his mind wonder onto the meeting taking place on the ship.

"Sir, did he just giggle?"

"Not another word Private, just not another f**king word."

**0800 Hours, October 30, 2543 (Military Calendar)/ Aboard No Regret**

Doctor Swaksly swallowed another pill of his medication, feeling his thoughts become clearer every passing second as he took the maximum allowed of his medication with a grimace. Knowing this meeting would be one of his biggest achievement if he could pull it off and not to show that he is insane. Well reasonably insane, he thought as he paced around the table of the meeting room onboard the No Return only to stop briefly by his chair checking that his notes were arranged properly. The meeting was with three important military personnel and hopefully allies after the meeting... if everything goes to plan... and doesn't get thrown out of the airlock because of his mouth... and the ODST squad doesn't kill him on the way back to the prowler.

The room was metallic grey circular wall with a metal circle table with four chairs that had only one entrance that was magnetically locked into place and with his personnel A.I made sure to make the room was not bugged and all surveillance systems in the room was offline. The three that he was thinking of entered the room causing him to smile as objective 1 getting them to meet him was a success. The three were who Colonel Ackerson met for the introduction of the Spartans 3 project were Rear Admiral Rich who was already in his fifties and gray, Captain Gibson who moved like a panther though his strides shows that he spends most of his time in microgravity and Vice Admiral Parangosky who looked older than her rumoured age to be in the eighties. How Ackerson could have believed that his personnel A.I. could stop infiltration into Ackerson's system database from someone who helped to create that A.I! Mind you it was a rush job putting that A.I together, thought Swaksly before he motioned to the seats for them to sit.

"Why the hell did you call us here, Doctor Swaksly?" Rear Admiral Rich stated as he stared at the Swaksly who met the stare, before he replied neutrally giving a way no ascent to show where he came with a slightly child like voice, "You will see in a moment." Swaksly activated a hologram at the centre of the table showing the documents that he wished them to see.

The three read through the documents before Parangosky sighed with war weariness and said sharply "Is there a reason you are showing us these causalities reports or is it just to get on our nerves?"

Doctor Swaksly then pressed another button showing a document and motioned them to continue to read as the three glanced at him before continuing only to be further confused by the reports.

"Swaksly, what the hell does A.I.s have to do with this?" asked Captain Gibson glaring at him with confusion.

"In this war we have lose millions... no billions of humans to these invaders known as the Covernant." Swaksly said only to pause briefly, as he stood up walked around the room while continuing on. "We have our mightiest troops slain by this enemy, and no matter how many we kill more fill thier place and they have more advance technology than us." He stopped briefly before turning to the group before saying, "We however have one... wait I mean two things they don't have."This caused the attention of the three that were dwindling to perk up.

"What are these advantages Doctor Swaksly." questioned Parangosky as she stared intently without any hint of emotion on her face with her arms folded at Swaksley who felt that his soul was being dissected apart by her caused the insane doctor to shiver.

"Firstly, our Spartans, are known to be one of our biggest factor in ground combats" he said while thinking of also of the Spartans 3, but they didn't need to know that he thought, before he continued "And our Smart A.I.s, the fact that the Covernant show no sign of using them, or having them, has helped us many times in space and ground combat. Hell, if we didn't have these A.I.s, we would have lost more people than we have today."

"A.I.s are shown to be quicker thinkers than the average soldier and can plot a strategy, totally fool proof with a number of simulations in a few seconds while for our troops would take minutes before deciding one that would work best for them," said Swaksly, before he continued with his eyes wide childish and said "An A.I with a body of its own on the battlefield."

He held up his hand briefly to stop Gibson before he said with a frown on his face. "Not a biological body. Our cloning technology is not at those standards, I mean a humanoid machine, one that is not limited to our body weaknesses!"

"So you want to give an A.I. a body to lead us, Doctor?" Parangosky said looking at Swaksly with cold eyes causing him to blink in confusion.

"No! I mean an A.I. soldier! Someone that can mingle with the other soldiers while fighting with them on the ground! Also you wouldn't lose any life if it is destroyed on the battlefield! Hell, you properly can just take the body and replace with another A.I with the originals memory of its experience on the battlefield and be ready to fight in a few days!" he shouted, staring manically at them while gulping in some air for his brilliant mind to catch up with what he said, and waited for the reply.

"So Arthur, what do you need?" BINGO!

**1630 Hours, November 27, 2546 (Military Calendar)/ Planet Reach/ Restricted Area Beta 6B Research Wing**

Two and a half years, thought back Doctor Arthur Swaksly in his office looking at the new reports strewn across the desk showing progress of the project. Project Zero Alpha One also known Excalibur had taken years of perfection and trials and errors to produce what is now the final product, being given last tests in the room next door, shown in the one way mirror.

"Where the heck are they?" grumbled the insane Doctor as he put on a childish pout while ranting on in his head about how they're not there to see his shine of brilliance once again. The office was small Metallic Square, with only a desk, over flowing reports and computer screens giving constant updates and the only piece of nature was a small lily in a pot at the other side of the room. The only light was either from the one way mirror light in the next room or the lamp on his desk shining across the reports like a demented angel.

"Doctor Swaksly" drawled Butler, a personnel A.I. unit that Swaksly created for his own purposes, appeared at holo pad at the edge of the table in the form Hawk.

"Your guests are waiting inside training area beta at the observation platform to see the test of the project" said Butler before closing his holographic eyes and continued. "Vice Admiral Parangosky said exactly, if that insane Doctor is not here in 10 minutes, expect him to lose more than his job."

The Butler opened his eyes to find the room empty and the base security updated him that Swaksly had already exited the lift and running full pelt to the training arena, not bad for a fifty year old man. With a sigh of amusement as he found the Doctors antics amusing to say at least, Butler sent a message to the military personnel to prepare the test for Excalibur before returning to training area beta and the surveillance cameras, making sure no bugs had been placed and waited for it to start.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Halo, and any characters, locations or terms taken from it are owned by Bungie, Microsoft Corporation, The Authors of the books and their respective corporations. Any OC's created and the plotline for this story is owned by MaddnessWriter**

**1635 Hours, November 27, 2546 (Military Calendar)/ Planet Reach/ Restricted Training Area Beta ****Observation Room**

Vice Admiral Parangosky stared across the cavern from the observation room that held the training ground. The room was lit only by dim, hanging lights on top of the cave behind the bullet proof one way mirror. She was not alone, her fellow watchers of the test Captain Gibson and Rear Admiral Rich either stood or sat down, watching the hysterical scientists and engineers, who prepared the communication and viewing systems that showed the training grounds from different aspects, on glowing blue screens that illuminated the room on the walls.

The training ground contained artificial rivers that flowed around the room, creating moats around small islands. Trees and green plants were abundant with huge boulders that created potential cover for troops, while tunnels in the walls led to different parts of the cavern giving ambush points for the soldiers to use.

In the centre of the cave was a steel fortress that had three levels. The ground level, the observation platform and the basement vehicle garage. The vehicle garage contained two warthogs each with a heavy machine gun and a scorpion tank. Each level of the fortress brimming with anti personnel and anti vehicle turrets for the defenders leaving no blind spots for any enemy to use, theoretically!

There was no hint of surprise on Vice Admiral Parangosky cold indifferent face, when a steel door opened at the far side of the training ground releasing a battalion of soldiers. Some of the soldiers were in the old defected mark 1 exoskeleton armour (she guessed these were the sergeants). The old armour has been decommissioned as it had to be powered by either a generator or a unsecure radio signal. If neither powered the armour, it become effectively a piece of scrap metal that would lead to death of the user. Both ways of powering the armour was considered useless on the battlefield. The soldiers headed for the fortress in a great mass, the leaders of the pack screaming orders on the squad coms, which created a sense of order as soldiers manned the turrets around the base or prepared to go on patrol.

The three visitors took no notice of running footsteps, which stopped outside with the sound of someone gasping for air and the ruffle of clothes being quickly smoothed when the door opened to show a rather red face Doctor Arthur Swaksly. Swaksly, Captain Gibson observed, had aged slightly over the two years. More of his hair had turned greyed and the bald patch gave the effect of a crater on his head. What worried Gibson most was the fact that Swaksly eyes still had a fierce childish curiosity with a thinly veiled layer of madness on top. Swaksly scanned the room with his wide mad, glinting eyes before settling back on the group in front of him.

"Sorry! Sorry! I had thought that we were to meet in the labs first!" said Swaksly with a wild grin that appeared on his face and was about to continue when a short red bobbed hair female scientist interrupted him, holding a glass of water and a bottle of pills.

"I thought you might have forgotten to take your medication today, Doctor." Said the red haired women, she passed a glass of water, and two pills into Swaksly's hands, who took the medication embarrassed. Swaksly's posture and look slowly changed as he took the pills, as he seemed to straighten, and the madness and playfulness in his eyes became slightly subdued and were replaced by intelligence.

"Thank you Karen, I needed that." said the Swaksly looking at red haired scientist, who nodded in return and returned back to work at communications hub. Swaksly turned around to the three with an apologetic look and said "Sorry about that, I must have forgotten to have it on the way up."

"Doctor Swaksly, we all here and waiting for the Excalibur program training test" said Captain Gibson with a bored look on his face as he stared intently at Swaksly.

Ahh yes, the final test for Excalibur in this facility, thought Arthur as he remembered the years of trial and error to produce it. This was his moment of success that would either give him success or failure for his future. Hopefully success, he thought before he shivered as he remembered how close the mental rehabilitation lawyers almost got him at the space port last month, making him more focused than ever to avoid the fate of failure.

Repressing the shudder, he quickly turned his mind to reality and said with a smile. "Butler, how long until the test will begin?" At the sound of his name, the Hawk A.I appeared at a holo stand next to Swaksly with an agitated look before stating "Alpha Twenty Two Division is prepped for the simulation and Excalibur is making its way to the training ground from research wing from the last minute tests a few moments ago. I predict it will start very shortly Doctor." The A.I. focused his avatar's eyes on Swaksly before drawling out "Anything else sir?"

"No, thank you Butler, you're dismissed" said Swaksly before grinning at Butler grumbling that he wished that being dismissed was true. Swaksly soon turned to the indication light at the top of a console, which flickered on signalled that Excalibur was at the starting zone in the cavern. With a nod to Karen, who quickly activated the communications to the division and Excalibur, she droned on the speakers "Training ground is ready, green light for battle field simulation, Alpha Twenty Two Division objective is to protect the data." Doctor Swaksly walked over and joined Gibson, Rich and Parangosky at the one way glass window watching the soon to be battlefield with his untamed child like curiosity as a dark person disappeared into the shadows from one of the doorways of the training ground.

**1637 Hours, November 27, 2546 (Military Calendar)/ Planet Reach / Restricted Training Area Beta**

"All right you maggots! You heard the lady! Protect that data at all costs!" Screamed a sergeant across the speakers, "Make sure that B******d doesn't even make a step in this area or those training sessions that you been going through in the past, will look like child's play, if you fail!"

"Squad one! Patrol the East of Base camp!" growled the sergeant as a group of ten moved slowly for the patrol. "Remain in Radio silence until sighting of enemy! We do not want to screw this UP!"

"YES SIR!" shouted the squad, and gave a quick salute before they moved to their destination to the east, unaware of being watched from the distance by a dark shadow, which it silently moved towards them.

The squad, crept across the training ground silently whispering reports to each other as the lead sergeant swept his eyes across the trees and knew that this was a perfect place for someone to ambush them.

"This is bloody creepy" said a marine at the back of his squad to the squad mate beside him who nodded his agreement.

"Yer, I swear something is watchi...!" whispered the marine back, but before he could finish, he slapped his hand over his neck in mid panic and confusion before he fell to the ground unconscious. The other marine startled, but within a second, he too felt a prick on his neck before plucking a tranquiliser dart out and slurred "Son of a b….." before he too fell unconscious.

A dark figure quickly blurred out, pulling the two unconscious men into the shadows. He was stalking his prey with a black silencer submachine gun that was loaded with tranquilisers. The squad at the front kept their eyes staring intently at the destination in front and didn't notice that another three of their comrades had fallen behind. Only when a sixth squad mate slumped over the soldier in front of him, that the silent attack was noticed.

"What the heck! Sarge….!" Screamed the marine before being quickly silenced by a puff from the silencer. But the alarm was already raised through what remained of the squad. A flash bang went off in the middle of the squad, causing the squad to be blinded and deaf as they tried to pull the triggers of their guns to shower the forest in hope of getting rid of the assailant but only to be stopped by three puffs from the submachine gun in the shadows from behind them. The sergeant blinked as his sight returned and he scanned the trees with gun pointed forward and plucked a tranquiliser off his armoured neck. He winced knowing how close it could had been if he hadn't wore the armoured exoskeleton.

SLASH!

Came from the figure behind him in the trees, who quickly cut at the power pack on the back of the armour, which severed its connection to the suit. This caused the hydraulics that kept the huge weight of the armour from collapsing on the soldier to fail, causing the sergeant fall to the ground swearing unable to move at all. As the figure started to disappear into the shadows, the sergeant was able to get a glimpse of the figure from the corner of his eye showing the person was 6ft, slim and wearing matte black ODST armour with the helmet fully donned hiding its face.

"S**t…" cursed the sergeant, realising that the communication system in the suit was offline, which left no way to contact base, to warn them.

The armoured person crept once again into the embracing shadows and stalked towards its target. It only stopped to watch patrols that passed and taking out stragglers and hiding them in the shadows. It continued onwards towards the fortress constantly correcting its plan of attack before reaching the clearing. There was no fault in its step, no hesitation as it lifted the gun and shot two sentries outside the entrance, causing them to slowly slump to the wall asleep.

The dark figure paused for a brief second after the shots, before it sprinted out into a blur hitting a speed of 49 kph from the shadows near the clearing to the doorway. As soon as it reached the doorway, it quickly assessed if anybody saw it and listened to a captured radio of an unconscious marine before it nodded to itself. It knew that nobody had detected it and silently crept further into the base, keeping to the shadows.

**1641 Hours, November 27, 2546 (Military Calendar)/ Planet Reach / Restricted Training Area Beta ****Observation Room**

Doctor Swaksly watched from the observation room, as his beloved experiment sprinted through the doors and disappeared into the small fortress, with a full blown grin. He carefully looked at the three visitors beside him and tried to see if there was any expression, only to pout almost when no flicker of emotion was shown on their faces. Only Rear Admiral Rich showed slight curiosity at the battlefield.

"Thirty Three soldiers out," said Swaksly from looking at a screen next to him, before continuing "And still undetected by the ene….." but was interrupted, by the shouts of reports of missing troops in their squads on the coms.

"Well, they don't know Excalibur is in the…." said Swaksly but again was interrupted by a sergeant over the com that shouted "The f**king b******d in the base! ... Repeat the ….what the helARGHhh! The comm clicked off suddenly and a few seconds later the power of the whole training ground went out, leaving shouts of confusions of the soldiers left in the darkness. This caused the Doctor stifle a giggle of madness that crept up his throat, getting odd looks from the room as he pretended to cough.

"Sorry sir." the holographic avatar of Butler appeared, as he slumped his head in embarrassment to the people inside the room.

"A virus has entered the system mainframe. I thought that I had eradicated the virus from the system but I believe that it may have given me the slip. It made me believe that its target was the life support and broke apart a smaller hidden part of the virus at the power controls for the training grounds as a data bomb," stated the A.I. blushing in embarrassment as the whole room stared at him due to the mistake that Butler had made.

"The power will be returned shortly, Doctor" said Butler in his usual drawl at Swaksly, who was just opening his mouth to voice the question, only to go into a childish pout and grumble about too smart A.I.s with a smirk.

The lights of the training ground returned showing the shambolic remains of the confused soldiers returning back to their normal state of order, only to be shattered again to see the scorpion tank travelling away from base. This caused some of the troops to rush to what was left of the vehicles in the garage to pursue the tank while other troops either controlled the turrets or fired their own guns at the tank with rage. None of the troops notice a dark figure leaping out of the base in the opposite direction to the tank into the shadows, causing the Swaksly to giggle at the madness of the battlefield, with his eyes wide and sparkling with his usual childish curiosity.

"Doctor, you did take your pills, didn't you?" said a technician, glaring at Swaksly.

"..Yes…" said Swaksly innocently, while quickly stuffing the discarded pills in his coat pocket and whistling innocently.

**1638 Hours, November 27, 2546 (Military Calendar)/ Planet Reach / Restricted Training Area Beta**

The dark figure crept along the hallway, ducking in and out of the shadows. Behind it unconscious marines were strewn over the floor of the hallway after being shot by the puffs of the silenced gun. The figure walked closer and closer to its target, only to stop shortly by two marines with their backs facing it guarding the door. The hunter quickly sighted the next two preys and there was the sound of two puffs, before the thump of the two guards falling on the floor face first. The hunter quickly reloaded the empty clip, pausing only when a burst of gun fire sent a bullet into its right arm from behind. Within a brief millisecond it threw itself into the room in front of it ducking behind the door from the bullets pounding into the wall where it was previously.

"The f**king b******d in the base!" called sergeant across the com just as the dark figure sprinted towards him with a fist raised to strike the gun, ignoring the continuous splutter of bullets aimed at its person. "Repeat the …!"

SLASH!

The sergeant looked down at his gun, now half a gun and then looked at assailant who had a small sword sticking out in between the middle of his right fist.

"What the helARGHhh!" screamed the sergeant as the dark armoured fist met his head with a crack making the visor crack over and warp into the shape of the fist, briefly stunning the sergeant and braking his nose. It was quickly followed by a kick at the groin causing the sergeant to kneel over in pain as a slash at the legs, caused hydraulic fluid to spurt over the floor. Another slash at the power supply of the suit at the back came from the fist sword. The fight was quickly ended by a powerful roundhouse kick at the back of the armoured sergeant smashing him to the steel wall effectively denting it and knocking the armour battered sergeant out, all within two seconds. The armoured figure gave a quick sprint to the metallic circular room that held the target and tapped at the computer at the far side of the room, sending the signal to the data bomb that had been planted in the mainframe at the start of the mission. The whole training ground lights and power to shut down. The armoured person activated its night vision mode on the HUD, turned and picked up the target, a data chip on the desk next to the computer he had just used.

Clack went the submachine gun as a new full clip was clipped into place and the small sword slid silently back into his fist and the dark figure made its way across the fortress in the dark. It only stopped once when it looked down from a walkway from above a scorpion tank that rested in the garage directly below. Grabbing the rail of the walkway it lifted itself over the rail and dropped down on top of the scorpion with a muffled clank. Briefly checking for anybody that had noticed the sound that it had made, it opened the hatch of the tank and removing a glove off its hand. The hand looked like any normal hand of a human, except it had in the middle of the two middle knuckles a small hole which exposed the titanium bones of the knuckles and wires that seeped into the bones while the fingers nails had a faint blue hue. Placing its hand on the tank's computer it injected out tiny micro needles from its bones through the skin to the tank's computer and uploaded a data bomb into the tank, set for ten seconds before activation.

The armoured figure quickly put on its glove before running silently to the other side of the base away from the tank, weaving around whilst shooting quick bursts of tranquilisers at the blind troops as they called to each other. Sprinting silently in the dark, nearly reaching the doorway before a soldier walked out of the doorway in front with a flash light pointing at the now illuminated armoured person only to meet a puff from the silencer. After the man fell to the floor, another soldier following the man walked out the door seeing his fallen comrade on the floor with a flashlight. Before he could shout out for help or lift his gun, the soldier stomach met the thrown empty submachine gun caused him to be winded. Within a second a knee met his groin and two quick punches at the head, effectively knocked the now bruised marine unconscious. The assailant picked up its gun, ejected the spent clip and replaced with a full clip and waited for the lights to return in the darkness of the hallway back by the doorway.

After half a minute, the lights of the training field spluttered on, giving a dim but soon bright light to the soldiers that were now blinking their eyes as their sight returned. Twenty seconds later, the shouts of sergeants were heard around the base with the rumbling of engines and the sounds of gun fire at the pilotless tank that headed towards a random direction plotted by the data bomb. The black armoured figure sprinted from the doorway into the shadows heading towards the opposite direction of the tank. It silently ran in the forest only to sprint at max speed when a soldier on the stolen com reported that the tank was secure. The helmeted figure felt pleased as it reached the exit of the training ground as the screams of sergeants crackled through the com to find 'the bloody b******d' as the tank was found empty.

**1643 Hours, November 27, 2546 (Military Calendar)/ Planet Reach/ Restricted Training Area Beta ****Observation Room**

"Swaksly, it seems that it Excalibur is a failure. Maybe better luck next time." Said Rear Admiral Rich breaking the silence as troops cautiously closed around the broken tank that was filled with holes of projectiles and sparks that cracked along with the fires.

"You shouldn't be saying that too soon, Admiral," said the grinning manic, to the surprise of everybody. Swaksly tried to hold in his mad cackling as a sergeant ordered for the hatch of the tank to be opened.

"What the heck…. Sarge, the f**king tank is empty!" said one of the marines on the radio, showing clearly the tattered but empty compartment of the tank. It had taken a few seconds, but technicians' sweared the communications were burning hot from what the sergeant screamed on the communications.

"YOU GOT TO BE F**KING KIDDING ME!" Bellowed the red face sergeant on the coms, "WHERE THE HEC….. SCOUT THE PERIMETER! ALL TROOPS! THE B******D STILL LOOSE! REPEAT THE F**KING B******D IS LOOSE!" The entire battalion sprinted across the battlegrounds, checking the base and slowly sweeping out the training ground, only for Swaksly to smile manically as a light pinged on top of a console showing that Excalibur had exited the arena and was heading towards the research wing for any repairs.

He nodded to Karen who activated the speakers and said "Battle simulation completed. The runner has exited the field. All troops exit training ground, and please step to one side for medic crew to get through." This caused screams from the commanding officers, who screamed how much their previous training is going to look like babies steps to what coming, only to be cut off from the coms by Karen, looked slightly annoyed, rubbing her ears from the shouting.

"Well, it looks like Excalibur training program is a success," beamed happily the manic doctor at his guests.

"Yes, the training session was a success…" said Captain Gibson, causing Swaksly to nod like a child who is getting a sweet, "But we haven't tested it on a real mission against real enemies." This caused Swaksly to stop nodding, and look confused at Gibson.

"Before we can get it out into the war, we going to have to give it a test mission, to see if it is really ready for what its expected… but first I think we all should meet Excalibur since we've just seen it out in action and review its mentality," said Gibson.

Swaksly nodded his understanding before striding to the door and said with his usually child like eyes "Well lets go then," and walked to the door while waving his hand for the three to follow him to the research wing. Karen sighed as she saw Swaksly's medication had been left on top of one of the computer consoles and followed the mad doctor to give the medication.

"Doctor," said Vice Admiral Parangosky.

"Yes?"

"The tank is coming out of your pay."

"!"


End file.
